Pranayam: key to heightened awareness

Most meditators, regardless of what technique they are using, have noticed profound changes in the rate of breathing while experiencing deeper states of consciousness. They have watched their breath becoming finer, very still, and at times non-existent. They have witnessed their attention becoming very fluid, and at times their energy feeling very strong. Whatever these meditators have been doing is a natural form of pranayam.

So what exactly is pranayam then?

A practice of strengthening and refining the praanic energy field.

What is praan? Praan, also known as chi, has been described as a non-physical layer or aura of energy that surrounds and permeates our physical body.

Our health is directly related to the balance of energies and the strength or "voltage" of the field that permeates our body. Also, very importantly, our ability to perceive finer states of perception is very much related to the quality of the space of energy physically in and around our bodies.

How do we practice pranayam?

We first start with the breath. By consciously letting our breath become still without force, our capacity of absorbing and radiating energy through finer channels increases. As our economy of breath gets better (meaning less physical air being breathed, but finer quality of energy), so our longevity increases. Gradually, as our praanic channels open up, we may find ourselves naturally "breathing" in and out through our own thought or vision without the aid of the breath.

The continued practice of pranayam gives rise to extremely subtle states of perception and the ability to hold the attention on one thought or stream of consciousness effortlessly. As a result, powers of mind may open up spontaneously.

Okay, fine and nice, but how about some specifics?

Here is a particularly simple pranayam that I find invaluable: Suppose you have been sitting in silence contemplating or meditating for some time, say 20 or 30 minutes. If you take the opportunity to breath in deeply through the nostrils and on the out-breath audibly hum the sound ‘mmm’, a continual sound ‘mmm…’ for the duration of the breath, you will be practicing pranayam.  Repeat this process say 10 times - breathing in through the nose and humming out through the nose - you will manifest the praanic energy that you have cultivated during meditation through a fine channel of voice, breath and thought. At the end the last humming breath, if you hold the breath out of the body for as long as comfortably possible, you watch your consciousness escalate to subtler levels. Your mind will become amazingly clear. Your body will feel light and pure. The energy cultivated during the period of stillness is collecting into a powerful stream and will rise upwards and lift you beyond the ordinary waking state consciousness.  It works like this because the pranayam opens a channel of perception wider than the one we are used to, and because you are already still and alert from sitting in silence, that product of openness has a chance to stream out and upward through the widened channel.

Try it! You will be amazed! This incredibly simple exercise can be repeated again in the same session; take the time to again sit in stillness with this new awareness, then repeat the humming breath for another ten rounds or so: breathe-in, hum ‘mmm..’ out, breathe in, hum ‘mmm..’ out, … On the last humming breath, let the breath stay out for as long as you feel comfortable. The effectiveness of the pranayam will be proportional to the practice you have done and the effortlessness and length in which you can hold the breath out of the body. The result, as you can verify, is a quality of heightened awareness difficult to describe in words. You will receive great insight into the nature of your consciousness – not to mention great health benefits.

September 2001